PAUL SCHOLES has been one of the best players in the Premiership this season - but you cannot teach an old dog new tricks.

For a player of Scholes' quality and experience, his sending off in Rome was not only stupid but potentially very costly.

Scholes has never been a good tackler - he is rash, reckless and has a quick temper.

The first yellow card against Roma was for a silly challenge. The second card was as if Francisco Totti had laid a trap - and Scholes fell right into it. He was tricked into getting that second booking and for a player of his experience that was pretty unforgivable.

It was the same when he lashed out at Liverpool a few months ago. Manchester United went on to win at Anfield but Scholes was given a three-match ban.

Now Scholes will miss the return leg at Old Trafford and that is a major blow.

But it has been a familiar story of Scholes' career.

There have been few better midfielders than Scholes in the past 20 years but his tendency to dive into tackles is a major concern for United. It is perhaps too late to change him.

Along with Cristiano Ronaldo, Scholes has probably been United's best player with his great runs, priceless goals and fabulous work-rate.

His long injury lay-off has clearly revived his appetite and he has been like a new signing for United alongside Michael Carrick. Carrick has been an unsung hero this season and if United land Owen Hargreaves this summer, then they will again have one of the best midfields in Europe.

I strongly fancy United to come through their Roma test at Old Trafford. They will swarm all over Roma in the second leg. They did that against Blackburn last Saturday, which was tribute to Sir Alex Ferguson's managerial ability.

A goal down at home to Blackburn and not playing well, Ferguson clearly said things at half-time and not only did United come back to win 4-1, but it could have been 8-1. They were awesome.

It will be a great atmosphere at Old Trafford and United can overcome Roma who, apart from Totti and Mancini, do not look top class.

Chelsea and Liverpool can complete an English clean sweep. For everyone who raved about Liverpool's win in Barcelona, I actually think their win in PSV Eindhoven was even better.

You can argue all day long about the quality of opposition, but Liverpool were clinical, ruthless and picked off PSV to perfection.

Javier Mascherano has also shown what a top quality player he is. Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez went down to see Mascherano before he signed him at his flat in the Docklands, armed with a DVD which had all the good parts of his game and all of the bad.

Benitez made it clear which aspects he liked and which he could improve. He delivered his speech in Spanish and that eye for detail and charm left Mascherano desperate to sign for Liverpool.

Can Liverpool win the Champions League? Yes. But they still lack a natural goal scorer and if anything should happen to Steven Gerrard then that would be game over.

Chelsea are also capable of winning the Champions League even if they have left themselves with a lot to do in the second leg against Valencia.

Chelsea have a habit of delivering big performances when they need them and there is a big performance in this team. They are missing Arjen Robben but Joe Cole's return can give them a big lift. Sadly, Andriy Shevchenko still looks as if he is carrying a piano on his back and struggles against the top teams as we saw against Valencia.

But Salomon Kalou has improved and you can see now why so much fuss was made over Jon Obi Mikel. He looked a class act in the first leg.